True West

4/5True West is a grim family drama that plays out the disastrous relationship between two brothers. Screenwriter Austin is peacefully writing his script in California when his delinquent brother, Lee, rocks up to do it bit of burglary in the area. Lee also has an idea for a movie script, a ‘true western’ as he calls it, and eventually persuades Austin’s producer to drop his brother’s script in favour of his own. At this, the brothers go through a reversal of roles, as Austin turns to drink and Lee becomes obsessed with his screenplay. The plot unsurprisingly spirals into violence.The play is compact and tightly written, feeding on the destructive dynamics between the brothers. The interchanges between the brothers feel real, often uncomfortably so, and we get a sense of dragged-up old bitterness and a long, bad history between them. Both are played convincingly; Tom Palmer is frightening and charismatic as Lee, and Sam Caird is painfully believable as the cowed, obliging Austin. Raymond Blankenhorn makes an effective producer, evoking the outside world with slick professionalism. The claustrophobic plot is reflected in the set and the small cast. The intimate space of the Burton Taylor will enhance this and heighten the explosive atmosphere.A longing for the true West pervades, reflected in Lee’s urge to write a real Western. He speaks evocatively of the clean air in the desert, where he has been for 3 months. As things esaclate, Lee exclaims, ‘this would never have happened out on the desert.’ This is the only breath of hope in the oppressive airlessness of the play. Yet there is something compulsively watchable about True West. The brilliant, terrible dynamics between the brothers draw you in, well acted and totally gripping. By Elizabeth Bennett